October 29, 2024 • 26 mins
Ever wondered how a left-handed guitar enthusiast transforms into a right-handed rock star? Join us as Mark Bryan, the founding member and guitarist of Hootie and the Blowfish, shares his captivating journey.
Mark opens up about how early lessons and a love for ACDC's "TNT" ignited his passion for music, and how he drew inspiration from legends like Pete Townsend and Bruce Springsteen.
Listen as Mark reveals his unique approach to songwriting and the creative process behind the instruments that bring his music to life.
Curious about the quirky origins of Hootie and the Blowfish's name? Discover the amusing backstory rooted in college friendships and how these early bonds at the University of South Carolina set the stage for the band's astonishing rise to fame. We explore their transition from intimate club performances to stadium arenas, and the innovative ideas, like placing a bar on stage, that helped them stay true to their roots.
Mark also shares insights on how the band has managed to stay grounded and authentic despite their overwhelming success.
The episode wouldn't be complete without a look at the band's musical evolution and memorable collaborations.
Hear about the unforgettable experience of working with David Crosby on "Hold My Hand" and Cyril Neville on a tribute to Rosa Parks. Mark provides technical insights into how incorporating elements like percussion and background vocals have shaped their sound.
Finally, join us as we discuss the highs and lows of touring, celebrating the diverse and enriching experiences that come with life on the road.
Don't miss out on this compelling conversation filled with rich stories and invaluable lessons from Mark Bryan's illustrious career.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
My career in the entertainment industry has
enabled me to work with adiverse range of talent.
Through my years of experience,I've recognized two essential
aspects.
Industry professionals, whetherfamous stars or
behind-the-scenes staff, havefascinating stories to tell.
Secondly, audiences are eagerto listen to these stories,
(00:36):
which offer a glimpse into theirlives and the evolution of
their life stories.
This podcast aims to sharethese narratives, providing
information on how they evolveinto their chosen career.
We will delve into theirjourney to stardom, discuss
their struggles and successesand hear from people who helped
them achieve their goals.
Get ready for intriguingbehind-the-scenes stories and
(00:58):
insights into the fascinatingworld of entertainment.
Hi, I'm Tony Mantor.
Welcome to Almost LiveNashville.
Mark Bryan, a founding member,songwriter and guitarist of
Hootie and the Blowfish, joinsme today to recount his journey
in the music industry.
He has captivating stories andit's such a delight to have him
(01:19):
on board.
Thanks for coming on.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Oh, thanks for having me and thanks for taking the
time.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Oh, it's my pleasure.
So I understand you have alittle bit of a unique story
about how you learned how toplay guitar.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
I guess the story goes like this I was, I'm a
lefty, I grew up writingleft-handed and picked up the
guitar like a lefty.
And I was 12 years old and Iwent to a guitar lesson a group
guitar lesson at the communitycenter in my neighborhood when I
was 12.
I think my mom was like, do youthink you'd like that?
And I was like sure.
And so they had these all theselittle nylon string guitars
there and I picked it up lefthanded, and the guy who was
(01:57):
there was like, oh man, I don'tknow how to teach you like that,
you need to flip it over.
And so I did.
I flipped it over and so I did.
I flipped it over and I learnedhow to play a C chord that day,
right-handed.
And that was it and I didn't doanything.
And then I would have beenelementary school and I got
junior high and there was thisclass called guitar and I picked
it up right-handed againbecause that's the only thing I
(02:17):
knew from before and what theguy started from the very
beginning, you know, just likethe E, f, g notes and all that
kind of stuff.
And there was a kid in theclass who was already really
good we were like 14.
He taught me how to do thetwo-finger rock chord.
You know the fifths, it's likea fifth.
(02:38):
Yeah, sure, two-fingered rockjam, but most you know it's like
punky and metal.
Two-fingered rock jam that mostyou know it's like punky and
metal.
And so he I learned how to playTNT.
That day.
The day he taught me how toplay the record thing and I
could play TNT by ACDC andthat's it.
I think a lot of kids, whenthey're learning an instrument,
(03:00):
I've noticed their interest goesup when they learn a song they
know.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Yeah, definitely, it makes it more interesting.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Do lessons and everything, but when you learn a
song that you like and you go,oh my God, I can do that, you
know, and then it perkseverybody up.
So that's how it was for me.
I started learning songs that Iknew and it became a challenge.
And then that same kid in theclass who was really good
started teaching, teaching mehow to do some lead stuff too,
including at the time, you know,eddie Van Halen had just come
(03:28):
out, and so he knew how to dothe taps and everything.
And yeah yeah, learned thatearly on.
You know, even though that'snot the road I went down, I kind
of learned how to do all thatearly on and understood that
world and I do a little bitevery now and then I'll do some
pull off stuff.
It's fun.
I love Eddie Van Halen.
Which guitar player.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Oh yeah, I loved him, great player.
So when did the music bug biteyou and you said you know, I
want to give this a shot.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
I think the perfect answer to that and segue is that
is when I realized I couldstart writing songs on like the
creative side, sure, but Eddiealready figured out how to do
all this stuff.
You know, it was like, how do Iexpress myself through this
instrument?
And it wasn't from shredding,it was more like what Pete
Townsend was able to do, whereit's like you take great guitar
(04:16):
playing but turn it intomasterpiece songs.
Not to say that Eddie wasn't agreat songwriter he was.
I think he was actually one ofthe great riffmeisters of all
time.
Yeah, absolutely, therefore, agreat songwriter.
But Pete Townsend obviously tooksongwriting to a level that all
you know rock guitar playerswould dream of.
Yeah, he was great.
(04:37):
I started aspiring more to that, and then Springsteen was a big
influence as well, where itjust all about passion and love
for music and expressingyourself and telling your story
and telling other people'sstories through music, and
that's always fascinated me morethan anything, I think, the
ability to express myself, andtherefore it's led me to write
(04:57):
on piano and write with theukulele and other instruments
and, you know, expand and stufflike that.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
I always find it interesting to hear the
different stories of songwriters.
What part of the song comesfirst for you?
Is it the music side, or is itthe lyric side?
Speaker 2 (05:12):
I've noticed that there is not one approach.
There's not one single approachthat I've ever taken.
It's more that they come to you, and one way is through sitting
around and playing yourinstrument.
In fact I used to hear EddieVan Halen talk about in
interviews he would get a sixpack and he'd get one of those
old tape recorders and just hitrecord and sit around and noodle
for an hour.
(05:32):
Then he'd go back and listenand pull his favorite riffs from
that.
And you know, I've never donethat, done it like that.
But there is something to whereyou sit around and you noodle
for a while and you kind of gointo a zone where you're,
something starts to come throughyou, it becomes creative and uh
, I've pulled a lot of songideas and riffs and grooves out
(05:54):
of that place where I'm justjamming for a while and I I fall
into something that is reallyappealing to me and I want to
expand on.
And so that's one way, andsometimes it's on a keyboard or
whatever, like I said, just withyour instrument in hand.
And then another way a songseemed to come to me is like if
I'm in the shower or drivingdown the road and like I'll turn
(06:16):
the radio off and if I'm in theshower just set on or whatever,
and you zone out a little bitRight, melodies will come to me,
yeah, and then sometimes it'slyrics that'll come to me, and
so I'm able to kind of expand onthose again.
If it's something I really likeit was cool with lyrics is
every lyrical line has a rhythmto it if you pay attention to it
(06:39):
.
Yeah, right, every sentence youknow and has a rhythm to it.
You could turn it into lyric ifyou so desire, which is how
rapping formed you know like andhas a rhythm to it.
You could turn it into a lyricif you so desire, which is how
rapping formed you know Like.
You can be as artistic as youare with the language, just
depending on your desire, and soI stay very open-minded as a
writer to that and to expressingmyself through words.
I just find it like one of myfavorite things to do.
(07:00):
It's like doing a puzzle orsomething.
It's just, it's amazing.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Yeah, that's the beauty of writing songs.
There is no right or wrong wayto do it, it's just the way you
feel it.
So it's my understanding thatafter you got out of high school
, you went into college forbroadcast journalism.
Was that a plan B, just in caseyour first love didn't come
through, which was your musiccareer?
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Yeah, yeah, I guess it was.
You know, like my father hadalways taught me, you're going
to be better off if you're doingsomething that you love doing,
something you're interested indoing, instead of just doing a
job to do to make money, youknow.
And so I found some interest inlike sportscasting and music
DJing.
You know radio DJing and theability to use my voice and I
(07:45):
was comfortable in front of amic from high school on, and my
dad did some sports casting whenI was growing up so I got to
watch him do it and listen tohim on the radio Nice.
I was comfortable with all ofthat and started to pursue that
a little bit.
In high school we had somemedia classes that you could do
that, where we did like themorning announcements and stuff
like that.
Yeah, PA for the footballbasketball games.
(08:09):
My senior year, when I stoppedplaying, I actually just started
speaking at the games and I waskind of headed down that path.
And then University of SouthCarolina had a really good
broadcast journalism school,which is what kind of led me
there.
When I got there as a freshman,Darius lived down the hall from
me, same hall and the dorm.
He was also a broadcastjournalism major and we had two
of the same classes.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
So ate right away and start playing.
And then we started playingtogether within first semester.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Nice.
So you both met, basicallybecause of your journalism
classes.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
That and just coincidentally living down the
hall.
Yeah, I mean, you know we hadit.
Everybody on the hall had totake showers together, so we got
to know each other pretty wellright away.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Yeah, so after that, I think you and Darius started a
duo.
If I remember correctly, it wasnamed the Wolf Brothers.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
It was a guy on our hall nicknamed Wolf.
Okay, he introduced us thefirst time we played.
He's like he named us afterhimself, Like we didn't know his
company.
He's like, ladies and gentlemen, Mark and Darius, the Wolf
Brothers.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
That's interesting.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
We were the Wolf Brothers for about five shows
until we started doing the band.
You know, Dean and I actuallyplayed in a band together in
high school, so he chose ourbass and then we got.
We had a different drummerbefore Sony for a little while
and then Sony joined the bandsenior year different drummer
before Sony for a little while,and then Sony joined the band
senior year.
(09:31):
Well, that's great so after youbecame a band.
How did the name Hootie and theBlowfish come to happen?
Darius was in a vocal groupcalled Carolina Alive at
University of South Carolina andtwo guys that sung in the group
with him.
He had given them nicknames theBlowfish had puffy cheeks, okay
, and Hootie had glasses thatmade his eyes look like this,
you know, and he put over.
So it was Hootie and theBlowfish and they walked into a
party together one time and Garysaid that name and he came back
(09:54):
to me and he's like that's whowe should name our band.
Yeah, I didn't know if anythingwould ever come from our band.
We were just a college band.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Yeah, like, yeah, sure, that sounds great, you
know either of us thinking like,if something does come from our
band, that everyone's gonnathink you're hootie, you know
yeah yeah, that's right, likethat far ahead.
You know, we didn't care.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
That is just so hilarious yeah but anyway, he's
not hootie and you know he as aseverybody that has paid a
little bit of attention knows,and so it's kind of you know.
But if people want to call him,he has the best response.
He's like I don't care, if youwant to call me, that's fine,
just as long as you call me.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Yeah, that's so good.
What a great way to name a band.
I mean, you stop and thinkabout it.
There are so many differentways you can come up with cool
names, like Marshall Tucker.
I heard that they found theirname because they went into this
venue.
There was this old piano thathad been tuned.
The name of the piano tunerMarshall Tucker.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Don't doubt that at all.
Yeah, I mean it is great andours it was.
You know it's very organic.
If you, you know, if we'd had,if we had known Our band was, if
you had said to us right at thebeginning, your band's going to
be huge, we probably would havechosen a different name.
Yeah, I'm sure we just didn'tcare.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Yeah, I get that.
So once you got your firstsingle, you got it recorded and
then you're out there andeverything just starts blowing
up on you.
I'm interested to know, becauseI've been around people here in
Nashville that just didn'texpect what they got when it
started blowing up.
They have all these peopletugging at them from different
(11:29):
directions so they don't knowwhere they are, where they're
going to be, what they're goingto do.
It's just overwhelming.
How did that affect you withyour first hit?
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Staying in South Carolina was pretty key, keeping
our homes there, where wealready were grounded, you know,
working from that, we we had acentral office there.
We would have meetings everynight when we needed to.
You know sometimes we met everyweek or anything, but you know
we would we all were able tomeet and make business decisions
together.
(11:58):
We shared our publishing, whichwas a smart thing to do early
on, yeah, yeah, before ourrecord deal, everything we were
touring from there and there wasa perfect sort of web to tour
from, like a radius, you know,so to speak.
And you know we had our ownbusiness going even before we
were signed, before we weretouring nationally.
We, you know, we had our ownbusiness going with our own CDs
(12:19):
to just touring regionally,right, and we were kind of able
to establish that on our ownbefore jumping to the next level
and I think I helped a lot.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Yeah right, absolutely.
There are so many people outthere that have had overnight
success Well, it's not overnightsuccess, but a lot of people
call it that.
It's a perception, really,because a lot of people will
call it an overnight success.
I mean, a lot of people here inNashville that have worked in
the business a long time stillhave not been elevated to that
(12:49):
kind of success whereeverybody's tugging at them.
They have to do eight or 10radio interviews in a day and
just keep it moving that way.
So I think you made a wisedecision there.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Yeah, all it was just gradual enough for us to make
the job, including doing themedia and stuff like that.
I'll was just gradual enoughfor us to make the jump,
including doing the media andstuff like that.
I'll say the biggest jump forus was going from the club size
stages to arena size stages.
Yeah, I mean that's a big jump.
We were just this club band.
We didn't have any like lightshow or costume, I mean, you
know, we were just ourselves.
Anyway, it was music was thedeal.
(13:23):
So the best thing we could comeup with was to put an actual
bar on our stage.
That was a great idea.
Vips and contest winners andcelebrities sit at the bar on
the stage during yeah, but thatwas really cool.
How do we make what we didbigger?
And you know we came out ofbars so we just brought the bar
(13:44):
to the stage.
It was kind of fun.
A lot of people still talkabout it like that got to hang a
tour, you know.
And that was biggest jump forus, I think was like we were
going from these, you know, 30foot stages to these 90 foot,
just twin stages, you know.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
So how did your perception change?
I mean, going from a bar sceneto a concert level with 20,
25,000 people in front of youthat, uh, that's a huge change.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
It is.
And I mean we, I think we wereconscious about keeping the gear
as close as we still could toeach other without, like
spreading out too far to wherewe could still hear each other
and talk to each other, like ifI needed to walk over to darius
or sony at the drum kit todiscuss the next song.
You know proximity going andeverything you know we were very
conscious of of like and thenthere were no in-ears back then.
(14:35):
Yeah, wedges, you know when wefirst happened, so was kind of
important to us at first andthen we got comfortable with it,
spread it out more, but youknow that's, that's all you can
do.
I mean you know we were, oh,and adding peter holzap playing
um keyboards, oh, yeah, thenlike and just accompaniment
instruments, whatever they mighthave been on the record, like
(14:56):
land or a second guitar keyboard, it.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Just that really helps yeah, and then you're
duplicating exactly what you'verecorded.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Oh, and it just and filling out the sound.
More, having that personplaying fills things out.
And then we also added our drumtech, gary Green as a
percussionist.
That's part of the sound alittle bit.
You know, just tambourines hereand there go a long way,
shakers, a conga on the rightsong.
You know you don't overdo it,right, but he doesn't.
And then, most importantly, hehas a really nice background
(15:26):
singing voice and he can doublesound these high parts or go
higher if need be.
Yeah, yeah.
So just little subtle thingslike that that we added over the
years to fill out our sound.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Yeah, that's great.
So you just brought up aninteresting point.
There wasn't any in-ears backthen, so I played with both
wedges.
Of course, in those days andin-ears there's pluses and
minuses to both.
Some people like one, somepeople like the others.
Which ones do you like the best?
Speaker 2 (15:52):
When I first made the switch, what I really missed
was the live sound, as far aslike being able to hear the
audience and being able to talkto my bandmates and everything,
because each of you are a littleclosed in, you know Right know
right sure but there was nomistaking that the sound was of.
the in-ears is better thanwedges because indecide on the
volume, which saves your hearingfor the rest of your life.
(16:13):
I love that.
A, yeah, b.
What I've done is create anentire mix in my ears of the
band, like just like I would ifI was listening to, like hootie
the boatfish live record, like Itry to make, other than I have
to have my vocal a little louder, so you know, just so I can
hear what I'm singing, right,but I don't need to have my
guitar extra loud because I canhear the amps.
(16:34):
They're behind me still.
So it's this really nice mix inmy ears.
It's wonderful.
And then they have now these, amodel for in-ears that is
somewhat ambient Ambience, helpsyou hear the audience and hear
people talking around you alittle bit.
You know it's not completelymuffled.
Now, like also the rightfrequencies in, if that makes
(16:55):
any sense.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
Oh, absolutely, I've used both, and because, working
here in Nashville on theproduction side of it, you get
to see all the new techniques.
So, yeah, I agree, 100%.
Okay.
So here's a part that I love tohave is you have been doing
this for a long time.
You've had hit records, you'vebeen all over the world doing
concerts.
(17:16):
Out of all those years, what issomething that just stands out
to you that you'll never forget?
It can be anything.
Just what stands out ifsomebody asks you right now,
something that you'll alwaysremember?
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Oh, God, there's so many good ones, dude.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Yeah, that's why I asked this question.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
The first one that was, uh, that you said it was
David Crosby singing with us onHold my Hand, nice.
That was kind of one of the Imean, you know, probably one of
the first really big celebrityinteractions that we had, you
know, on that level, and thatwould have been one of them.
And he just was so cool and hedid it as a he was friends with
(17:56):
our producer, don Gammon, and afriend of ours from our label
and everything, and so he did itfor for them because he didn't
know us.
But then he right away he cameto like us and was glad he did
it and it just was such a greatexperience and he gave us about
10 minutes of just talking to usabout the music industry and
what to expect and how to youknow, not take it too seriously
(18:16):
and it can just all the thingsyou'd hope he would say.
And I remember him saying thegreatest lie he's's like just
you can't trust him, you can'ttrust him, I swear to God.
Oh yeah.
And then he played us his newsong on a 12-string guitar that
was tuned to like the wackiesttuning I've ever heard in my
(18:36):
life.
It took him like 15 minutes totune it.
He was telling us stories thewhole time.
Then he played his new song andit was beautiful, what a voice,
angelic voice.
And then, and then he sung onhold my hand.
You know I mean what a day.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
Yeah, that's just so awesome.
I remember when I first movedhere to Nashville and all of a
sudden I started getting callsfrom people that I had grown up
listening to and they said hey,we got to do work together, we
got to collaborate, we got to dosome things.
Did you have that happen wherepeople that you had listened to
and just loved hearing all of asudden was calling you and say,
(19:12):
hey, we got to work together?
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Yeah, well, one of my faves was I got to.
Cyril Neville wrote the songabout Rosa Parks that is on the
Yellow Moon Neville Brothersrecord.
Yeah right, sister Rosa it'scalled.
And Some friends of mine thatrun the O Street Foundation in
(19:35):
DC, where Rosa Parks stayed fora while back in the 90s, were
doing a tribute to her when theLibrary of Congress was doing a
whole you know thing about it.
They had a whole room about her.
Yeah, the O Street folks weredoing this musical tribute and
they asked me and Cyril, theyasked me to be involved and I
asked Cyril Neville if he wantedto redo Sister Rosa and he did
(20:00):
and he asked me to come play onit.
I went down to New Orleans andplayed with he and his band on
the remake of Sister Rosa andthey made a video of it and
everything it's on YouTube ifyou want to check it out.
Yeah, that's.
Yeah, it's cool as hell.
And then he came up to the OStreet and did a show with
Darius and I, which was alsoreally cool, and we did
(20:21):
obviously a few other classics.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Yeah, that was very cool.
So I see where you didsomething with Summer Camp for
Kids with Hootie and theBlowfish.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Oh no, no, that's just the name of the tour.
That's hilarious, I love it.
Okay, it does read that way.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Back in 95 when Edwin McCain was on tour with us Okay
, when he was getting signed forthe first time, right, he was
like man being on tour withHootie is like summer camp with
trucks.
We just named the tour that,all right.
Or it's called Summer Camp withTrucks and Edwin's on the tour
with Collective Soul.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Okay, For some reason I thought that was a charity
event for kids.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
It could easily read that way, and I don't blame you
for misreading that.
I mean it totally makes sense.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Yeah, yeah, now that you said the explanation, it
does.
But you know, perception isreality.
So someone's going to bereading that.
They're going to say, oh, whata great thing they're doing
helping the kids out.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
We do that as well.
We have our foundation andthere are QR codes on the screen
each night of the concertswhere you can get to our
foundation.
And then Edwin has hischaritable foundations and I'm
sure Collective Soul does too.
So we're all still heavilyinvolved in all of that, and
have been for years, and you'rea good foot in a position like
(21:44):
we have, that we have to giveand we always have.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
Yeah, that's a great thing to always give back.
So I understand you've beendoing some solo work as well.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Yeah, so over the years as a songwriter, I just
keep cranking them out and ifwe're not doing a Hootie project
at that time, then I'll releasea solo record.
This will be my fifth one and Iby far best, because I'm just
getting better with age.
Yeah, that's great.
I have more to say, more tosing about, and I'm better at
the craft and better playing theinstruments.
And I don't know.
I'm really excited about thealbum.
(22:17):
It's called Popped.
It's out in October, but youcan start listening to singles
now on Apple and everywhere andYouTube, and I have three videos
out already for the album.
So four actually four videosfor the album that are already
out there.
So you know we're moving alongand then the whole thing's out
in October.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
Yeah, nice, and you're right, Songwriting is
definitely a craft, and musicand songwriting, with the way
that you do it, hopefully it's acraft that gets better as time
goes on.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Yeah, man, I definitely have felt that over
the years and it's this constantsearch of how I can relay a
message that makes people feelsomething and hopefully affects
people the way my favorite musicaffects me and I hope, as a
writer, whether it's whetherwriting books or songs or
(23:09):
whatever and I hope that myexperience and how I've dealt
with things in my life givespeople hope.
It gives people something thatthey didn't have before,
something you hope that you canconvey that through your songs
and that's the best you can everhope for, absolutely.
So I'm constantly in search ofthat, constantly inspired by
(23:30):
others who make me feel that.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Yeah, and if your music can touch one person, it
changes their attitude, changesthe way they look at things,
gets hope for life.
It's a win, that's right.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Now, how do people find you?
Facebook and everything youknow?
That's the easiest wayM-A-R-K-B-R-Y-A-N.
Music, and you know the newmusic is there, so go to YouTube
.
Like I said, there's alreadyfour videos out that are of the
newer stuff, so yeah.
Yeah, and then obviouslythrough Hootie as well.
You know we're on tour allsummer long, so our website is
(24:15):
very active right now.
All the hootie uh platformsyeah, good on social media, like
we played send way, so there'sa whole piece about that one of
my favorite parks to be in yeah,it's just fun we're having a
blast
Speaker 1 (24:28):
right now yeah, and I think that's great because the
music business unfortunately itis a business, but we got into
music to have fun and that'swhat it's all about.
So it's great that you'reenjoying it and having some fun
with it.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Without a doubt, man, I mean it's great that I got to
make my new record andeverything, but if I wasn't on
tour this summer, I don't knowif I'd feel as fulfilled as I do
right now.
And so it's the full circle ofcreating and then going and
playing it for people and havingthem sing it back to you, and
that whole full circle.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Yeah, that is just so true.
And there is nothing betterthan getting on stage and
everybody's just having a greatnight.
The band is tight, the rhythmsection is tight, everything is
just flowing, no problems.
There's just not a betterfeeling than that.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
You said it, man, and I'll tell you that that feeling
that you're talking about rightthere that's happening with UD
and the Blowfish this summer aswell ever has, and we're almost
together for like 35 years nowor something Wow, we're as good
as we've ever been.
It's crazy.
I don't know if I would havebeen able to say that when we
were in our twenties, like whenyou're 57, you'll be as good as
(25:35):
you're, but, man, it's, it'sreally, really tight and it's
really great that everybody'sstill playing on this level and
enthusiastic about it on thislevel and about about sounding
this good.
So, yeah, I love being in atight band.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
It's great oh yeah, it's a great feeling.
It's nothing better.
I've been in some great onesand I've been in some loose ones
and everything in between.
Well, this is great.
I really appreciate you takingthe time to be on.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
Yeah, man, thanks so much for having me again.
Yeah, it's a great conversation, man.
I mean we're in a good place,getting to play the beat on tour
right now.
I really appreciate theopportunity to talk about it.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Yeah, absolutely Great conversation.
Thanks for joining us today.
We hope you enjoyed the show.
This has been a Tony Mantorproduction.
(26:32):
For more information, contactmedia at plateau musiccom.
My career in the entertainment industry has
enabled me to work with adiverse range of talent.
Through my years of experience,I've recognized two essential
aspects.
Industry professionals, whetherfamous stars or
behind-the-scenes staff, havefascinating stories to tell.
Secondly, audiences are eagerto listen to these stories,
(00:36):
which offer a glimpse into theirlives and the evolution of
their life stories.
This podcast aims to sharethese narratives, providing
information on how they evolveinto their chosen career.
We will delve into theirjourney to stardom, discuss
their struggles and successesand hear from people who helped
them achieve their goals.
Get ready for intriguingbehind-the-scenes stories and
(00:58):
insights into the fascinatingworld of entertainment.
Hi, I'm Tony Mantor.
Welcome to Almost LiveNashville.
Mark Bryan, a founding member,songwriter and guitarist of
Hootie and the Blowfish, joinsme today to recount his journey
in the music industry.
He has captivating stories andit's such a delight to have him
(01:19):
on board.
Thanks for coming on.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Oh, thanks for having me and thanks for taking the
time.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Oh, it's my pleasure.
So I understand you have alittle bit of a unique story
about how you learned how toplay guitar.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
I guess the story goes like this I was, I'm a
lefty, I grew up writingleft-handed and picked up the
guitar like a lefty.
And I was 12 years old and Iwent to a guitar lesson a group
guitar lesson at the communitycenter in my neighborhood when I
was 12.
I think my mom was like, do youthink you'd like that?
And I was like sure.
And so they had these all theselittle nylon string guitars
there and I picked it up lefthanded, and the guy who was
(01:57):
there was like, oh man, I don'tknow how to teach you like that,
you need to flip it over.
And so I did.
I flipped it over and so I did.
I flipped it over and I learnedhow to play a C chord that day,
right-handed.
And that was it and I didn't doanything.
And then I would have beenelementary school and I got
junior high and there was thisclass called guitar and I picked
it up right-handed againbecause that's the only thing I
(02:17):
knew from before and what theguy started from the very
beginning, you know, just likethe E, f, g notes and all that
kind of stuff.
And there was a kid in theclass who was already really
good we were like 14.
He taught me how to do thetwo-finger rock chord.
You know the fifths, it's likea fifth.
(02:38):
Yeah, sure, two-fingered rockjam, but most you know it's like
punky and metal.
Two-fingered rock jam that mostyou know it's like punky and
metal.
And so he I learned how to playTNT.
That day.
The day he taught me how toplay the record thing and I
could play TNT by ACDC andthat's it.
I think a lot of kids, whenthey're learning an instrument,
(03:00):
I've noticed their interest goesup when they learn a song they
know.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Yeah, definitely, it makes it more interesting.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Do lessons and everything, but when you learn a
song that you like and you go,oh my God, I can do that, you
know, and then it perkseverybody up.
So that's how it was for me.
I started learning songs that Iknew and it became a challenge.
And then that same kid in theclass who was really good
started teaching, teaching mehow to do some lead stuff too,
including at the time, you know,eddie Van Halen had just come
(03:28):
out, and so he knew how to dothe taps and everything.
And yeah yeah, learned thatearly on.
You know, even though that'snot the road I went down, I kind
of learned how to do all thatearly on and understood that
world and I do a little bitevery now and then I'll do some
pull off stuff.
It's fun.
I love Eddie Van Halen.
Which guitar player.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Oh yeah, I loved him, great player.
So when did the music bug biteyou and you said you know, I
want to give this a shot.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
I think the perfect answer to that and segue is that
is when I realized I couldstart writing songs on like the
creative side, sure, but Eddiealready figured out how to do
all this stuff.
You know, it was like, how do Iexpress myself through this
instrument?
And it wasn't from shredding,it was more like what Pete
Townsend was able to do, whereit's like you take great guitar
(04:16):
playing but turn it intomasterpiece songs.
Not to say that Eddie wasn't agreat songwriter he was.
I think he was actually one ofthe great riffmeisters of all
time.
Yeah, absolutely, therefore, agreat songwriter.
But Pete Townsend obviously tooksongwriting to a level that all
you know rock guitar playerswould dream of.
Yeah, he was great.
(04:37):
I started aspiring more to that, and then Springsteen was a big
influence as well, where itjust all about passion and love
for music and expressingyourself and telling your story
and telling other people'sstories through music, and
that's always fascinated me morethan anything, I think, the
ability to express myself, andtherefore it's led me to write
(04:57):
on piano and write with theukulele and other instruments
and, you know, expand and stufflike that.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
I always find it interesting to hear the
different stories of songwriters.
What part of the song comesfirst for you?
Is it the music side, or is itthe lyric side?
Speaker 2 (05:12):
I've noticed that there is not one approach.
There's not one single approachthat I've ever taken.
It's more that they come to you, and one way is through sitting
around and playing yourinstrument.
In fact I used to hear EddieVan Halen talk about in
interviews he would get a sixpack and he'd get one of those
old tape recorders and just hitrecord and sit around and noodle
for an hour.
(05:32):
Then he'd go back and listenand pull his favorite riffs from
that.
And you know, I've never donethat, done it like that.
But there is something to whereyou sit around and you noodle
for a while and you kind of gointo a zone where you're,
something starts to come throughyou, it becomes creative and uh
, I've pulled a lot of songideas and riffs and grooves out
(05:54):
of that place where I'm justjamming for a while and I I fall
into something that is reallyappealing to me and I want to
expand on.
And so that's one way, andsometimes it's on a keyboard or
whatever, like I said, just withyour instrument in hand.
And then another way a songseemed to come to me is like if
I'm in the shower or drivingdown the road and like I'll turn
(06:16):
the radio off and if I'm in theshower just set on or whatever,
and you zone out a little bitRight, melodies will come to me,
yeah, and then sometimes it'slyrics that'll come to me, and
so I'm able to kind of expand onthose again.
If it's something I really likeit was cool with lyrics is
every lyrical line has a rhythmto it if you pay attention to it
(06:39):
.
Yeah, right, every sentence youknow and has a rhythm to it.
You could turn it into lyric ifyou so desire, which is how
rapping formed you know like andhas a rhythm to it.
You could turn it into a lyricif you so desire, which is how
rapping formed you know Like.
You can be as artistic as youare with the language, just
depending on your desire, and soI stay very open-minded as a
writer to that and to expressingmyself through words.
I just find it like one of myfavorite things to do.
(07:00):
It's like doing a puzzle orsomething.
It's just, it's amazing.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Yeah, that's the beauty of writing songs.
There is no right or wrong wayto do it, it's just the way you
feel it.
So it's my understanding thatafter you got out of high school
, you went into college forbroadcast journalism.
Was that a plan B, just in caseyour first love didn't come
through, which was your musiccareer?
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Yeah, yeah, I guess it was.
You know, like my father hadalways taught me, you're going
to be better off if you're doingsomething that you love doing,
something you're interested indoing, instead of just doing a
job to do to make money, youknow.
And so I found some interest inlike sportscasting and music
DJing.
You know radio DJing and theability to use my voice and I
(07:45):
was comfortable in front of amic from high school on, and my
dad did some sports casting whenI was growing up so I got to
watch him do it and listen tohim on the radio Nice.
I was comfortable with all ofthat and started to pursue that
a little bit.
In high school we had somemedia classes that you could do
that, where we did like themorning announcements and stuff
like that.
Yeah, PA for the footballbasketball games.
(08:09):
My senior year, when I stoppedplaying, I actually just started
speaking at the games and I waskind of headed down that path.
And then University of SouthCarolina had a really good
broadcast journalism school,which is what kind of led me
there.
When I got there as a freshman,Darius lived down the hall from
me, same hall and the dorm.
He was also a broadcastjournalism major and we had two
of the same classes.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
So ate right away and start playing.
And then we started playingtogether within first semester.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Nice.
So you both met, basicallybecause of your journalism
classes.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
That and just coincidentally living down the
hall.
Yeah, I mean, you know we hadit.
Everybody on the hall had totake showers together, so we got
to know each other pretty wellright away.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Yeah, so after that, I think you and Darius started a
duo.
If I remember correctly, it wasnamed the Wolf Brothers.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
It was a guy on our hall nicknamed Wolf.
Okay, he introduced us thefirst time we played.
He's like he named us afterhimself, Like we didn't know his
company.
He's like, ladies and gentlemen, Mark and Darius, the Wolf
Brothers.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
That's interesting.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
We were the Wolf Brothers for about five shows
until we started doing the band.
You know, Dean and I actuallyplayed in a band together in
high school, so he chose ourbass and then we got.
We had a different drummerbefore Sony for a little while
and then Sony joined the bandsenior year different drummer
before Sony for a little while,and then Sony joined the band
senior year.
(09:31):
Well, that's great so after youbecame a band.
How did the name Hootie and theBlowfish come to happen?
Darius was in a vocal groupcalled Carolina Alive at
University of South Carolina andtwo guys that sung in the group
with him.
He had given them nicknames theBlowfish had puffy cheeks, okay
, and Hootie had glasses thatmade his eyes look like this,
you know, and he put over.
So it was Hootie and theBlowfish and they walked into a
party together one time and Garysaid that name and he came back
(09:54):
to me and he's like that's whowe should name our band.
Yeah, I didn't know if anythingwould ever come from our band.
We were just a college band.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Yeah, like, yeah, sure, that sounds great, you
know either of us thinking like,if something does come from our
band, that everyone's gonnathink you're hootie, you know
yeah yeah, that's right, likethat far ahead.
You know, we didn't care.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
That is just so hilarious yeah but anyway, he's
not hootie and you know he as aseverybody that has paid a
little bit of attention knows,and so it's kind of you know.
But if people want to call him,he has the best response.
He's like I don't care, if youwant to call me, that's fine,
just as long as you call me.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Yeah, that's so good.
What a great way to name a band.
I mean, you stop and thinkabout it.
There are so many differentways you can come up with cool
names, like Marshall Tucker.
I heard that they found theirname because they went into this
venue.
There was this old piano thathad been tuned.
The name of the piano tunerMarshall Tucker.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Don't doubt that at all.
Yeah, I mean it is great andours it was.
You know it's very organic.
If you, you know, if we'd had,if we had known Our band was, if
you had said to us right at thebeginning, your band's going to
be huge, we probably would havechosen a different name.
Yeah, I'm sure we just didn'tcare.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Yeah, I get that.
So once you got your firstsingle, you got it recorded and
then you're out there andeverything just starts blowing
up on you.
I'm interested to know, becauseI've been around people here in
Nashville that just didn'texpect what they got when it
started blowing up.
They have all these peopletugging at them from different
(11:29):
directions so they don't knowwhere they are, where they're
going to be, what they're goingto do.
It's just overwhelming.
How did that affect you withyour first hit?
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Staying in South Carolina was pretty key, keeping
our homes there, where wealready were grounded, you know,
working from that, we we had acentral office there.
We would have meetings everynight when we needed to.
You know sometimes we met everyweek or anything, but you know
we would we all were able tomeet and make business decisions
together.
(11:58):
We shared our publishing, whichwas a smart thing to do early
on, yeah, yeah, before ourrecord deal, everything we were
touring from there and there wasa perfect sort of web to tour
from, like a radius, you know,so to speak.
And you know we had our ownbusiness going even before we
were signed, before we weretouring nationally.
We, you know, we had our ownbusiness going with our own CDs
(12:19):
to just touring regionally,right, and we were kind of able
to establish that on our ownbefore jumping to the next level
and I think I helped a lot.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Yeah right, absolutely.
There are so many people outthere that have had overnight
success Well, it's not overnightsuccess, but a lot of people
call it that.
It's a perception, really,because a lot of people will
call it an overnight success.
I mean, a lot of people here inNashville that have worked in
the business a long time stillhave not been elevated to that
(12:49):
kind of success whereeverybody's tugging at them.
They have to do eight or 10radio interviews in a day and
just keep it moving that way.
So I think you made a wisedecision there.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Yeah, all it was just gradual enough for us to make
the job, including doing themedia and stuff like that.
I'll was just gradual enoughfor us to make the jump,
including doing the media andstuff like that.
I'll say the biggest jump forus was going from the club size
stages to arena size stages.
Yeah, I mean that's a big jump.
We were just this club band.
We didn't have any like lightshow or costume, I mean, you
know, we were just ourselves.
Anyway, it was music was thedeal.
(13:23):
So the best thing we could comeup with was to put an actual
bar on our stage.
That was a great idea.
Vips and contest winners andcelebrities sit at the bar on
the stage during yeah, but thatwas really cool.
How do we make what we didbigger?
And you know we came out ofbars so we just brought the bar
(13:44):
to the stage.
It was kind of fun.
A lot of people still talkabout it like that got to hang a
tour, you know.
And that was biggest jump forus, I think was like we were
going from these, you know, 30foot stages to these 90 foot,
just twin stages, you know.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
So how did your perception change?
I mean, going from a bar sceneto a concert level with 20,
25,000 people in front of youthat, uh, that's a huge change.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
It is.
And I mean we, I think we wereconscious about keeping the gear
as close as we still could toeach other without, like
spreading out too far to wherewe could still hear each other
and talk to each other, like ifI needed to walk over to darius
or sony at the drum kit todiscuss the next song.
You know proximity going andeverything you know we were very
conscious of of like and thenthere were no in-ears back then.
(14:35):
Yeah, wedges, you know when wefirst happened, so was kind of
important to us at first andthen we got comfortable with it,
spread it out more, but youknow that's, that's all you can
do.
I mean you know we were, oh,and adding peter holzap playing
um keyboards, oh, yeah, thenlike and just accompaniment
instruments, whatever they mighthave been on the record, like
(14:56):
land or a second guitar keyboard, it.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Just that really helps yeah, and then you're
duplicating exactly what you'verecorded.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Oh, and it just and filling out the sound.
More, having that personplaying fills things out.
And then we also added our drumtech, gary Green as a
percussionist.
That's part of the sound alittle bit.
You know, just tambourines hereand there go a long way,
shakers, a conga on the rightsong.
You know you don't overdo it,right, but he doesn't.
And then, most importantly, hehas a really nice background
(15:26):
singing voice and he can doublesound these high parts or go
higher if need be.
Yeah, yeah.
So just little subtle thingslike that that we added over the
years to fill out our sound.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Yeah, that's great.
So you just brought up aninteresting point.
There wasn't any in-ears backthen, so I played with both
wedges.
Of course, in those days andin-ears there's pluses and
minuses to both.
Some people like one, somepeople like the others.
Which ones do you like the best?
Speaker 2 (15:52):
When I first made the switch, what I really missed
was the live sound, as far aslike being able to hear the
audience and being able to talkto my bandmates and everything,
because each of you are a littleclosed in, you know Right know
right sure but there was nomistaking that the sound was of.
the in-ears is better thanwedges because indecide on the
volume, which saves your hearingfor the rest of your life.
(16:13):
I love that.
A, yeah, b.
What I've done is create anentire mix in my ears of the
band, like just like I would ifI was listening to, like hootie
the boatfish live record, like Itry to make, other than I have
to have my vocal a little louder, so you know, just so I can
hear what I'm singing, right,but I don't need to have my
guitar extra loud because I canhear the amps.
(16:34):
They're behind me still.
So it's this really nice mix inmy ears.
It's wonderful.
And then they have now these, amodel for in-ears that is
somewhat ambient Ambience, helpsyou hear the audience and hear
people talking around you alittle bit.
You know it's not completelymuffled.
Now, like also the rightfrequencies in, if that makes
(16:55):
any sense.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
Oh, absolutely, I've used both, and because, working
here in Nashville on theproduction side of it, you get
to see all the new techniques.
So, yeah, I agree, 100%.
Okay.
So here's a part that I love tohave is you have been doing
this for a long time.
You've had hit records, you'vebeen all over the world doing
concerts.
(17:16):
Out of all those years, what issomething that just stands out
to you that you'll never forget?
It can be anything.
Just what stands out ifsomebody asks you right now,
something that you'll alwaysremember?
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Oh, God, there's so many good ones, dude.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Yeah, that's why I asked this question.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
The first one that was, uh, that you said it was
David Crosby singing with us onHold my Hand, nice.
That was kind of one of the Imean, you know, probably one of
the first really big celebrityinteractions that we had, you
know, on that level, and thatwould have been one of them.
And he just was so cool and hedid it as a he was friends with
(17:56):
our producer, don Gammon, and afriend of ours from our label
and everything, and so he did itfor for them because he didn't
know us.
But then he right away he cameto like us and was glad he did
it and it just was such a greatexperience and he gave us about
10 minutes of just talking to usabout the music industry and
what to expect and how to youknow, not take it too seriously
(18:16):
and it can just all the thingsyou'd hope he would say.
And I remember him saying thegreatest lie he's's like just
you can't trust him, you can'ttrust him, I swear to God.
Oh yeah.
And then he played us his newsong on a 12-string guitar that
was tuned to like the wackiesttuning I've ever heard in my
(18:36):
life.
It took him like 15 minutes totune it.
He was telling us stories thewhole time.
Then he played his new song andit was beautiful, what a voice,
angelic voice.
And then, and then he sung onhold my hand.
You know I mean what a day.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
Yeah, that's just so awesome.
I remember when I first movedhere to Nashville and all of a
sudden I started getting callsfrom people that I had grown up
listening to and they said hey,we got to do work together, we
got to collaborate, we got to dosome things.
Did you have that happen wherepeople that you had listened to
and just loved hearing all of asudden was calling you and say,
(19:12):
hey, we got to work together?
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Yeah, well, one of my faves was I got to.
Cyril Neville wrote the songabout Rosa Parks that is on the
Yellow Moon Neville Brothersrecord.
Yeah right, sister Rosa it'scalled.
And Some friends of mine thatrun the O Street Foundation in
(19:35):
DC, where Rosa Parks stayed fora while back in the 90s, were
doing a tribute to her when theLibrary of Congress was doing a
whole you know thing about it.
They had a whole room about her.
Yeah, the O Street folks weredoing this musical tribute and
they asked me and Cyril, theyasked me to be involved and I
asked Cyril Neville if he wantedto redo Sister Rosa and he did
(20:00):
and he asked me to come play onit.
I went down to New Orleans andplayed with he and his band on
the remake of Sister Rosa andthey made a video of it and
everything it's on YouTube ifyou want to check it out.
Yeah, that's.
Yeah, it's cool as hell.
And then he came up to the OStreet and did a show with
Darius and I, which was alsoreally cool, and we did
(20:21):
obviously a few other classics.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Yeah, that was very cool.
So I see where you didsomething with Summer Camp for
Kids with Hootie and theBlowfish.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Oh no, no, that's just the name of the tour.
That's hilarious, I love it.
Okay, it does read that way.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Back in 95 when Edwin McCain was on tour with us Okay
, when he was getting signed forthe first time, right, he was
like man being on tour withHootie is like summer camp with
trucks.
We just named the tour that,all right.
Or it's called Summer Camp withTrucks and Edwin's on the tour
with Collective Soul.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Okay, For some reason I thought that was a charity
event for kids.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
It could easily read that way, and I don't blame you
for misreading that.
I mean it totally makes sense.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Yeah, yeah, now that you said the explanation, it
does.
But you know, perception isreality.
So someone's going to bereading that.
They're going to say, oh, whata great thing they're doing
helping the kids out.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
We do that as well.
We have our foundation andthere are QR codes on the screen
each night of the concertswhere you can get to our
foundation.
And then Edwin has hischaritable foundations and I'm
sure Collective Soul does too.
So we're all still heavilyinvolved in all of that, and
have been for years, and you'rea good foot in a position like
(21:44):
we have, that we have to giveand we always have.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
Yeah, that's a great thing to always give back.
So I understand you've beendoing some solo work as well.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Yeah, so over the years as a songwriter, I just
keep cranking them out and ifwe're not doing a Hootie project
at that time, then I'll releasea solo record.
This will be my fifth one and Iby far best, because I'm just
getting better with age.
Yeah, that's great.
I have more to say, more tosing about, and I'm better at
the craft and better playing theinstruments.
And I don't know.
I'm really excited about thealbum.
(22:17):
It's called Popped.
It's out in October, but youcan start listening to singles
now on Apple and everywhere andYouTube, and I have three videos
out already for the album.
So four actually four videosfor the album that are already
out there.
So you know we're moving alongand then the whole thing's out
in October.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
Yeah, nice, and you're right, Songwriting is
definitely a craft, and musicand songwriting, with the way
that you do it, hopefully it's acraft that gets better as time
goes on.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Yeah, man, I definitely have felt that over
the years and it's this constantsearch of how I can relay a
message that makes people feelsomething and hopefully affects
people the way my favorite musicaffects me and I hope, as a
writer, whether it's whetherwriting books or songs or
(23:09):
whatever and I hope that myexperience and how I've dealt
with things in my life givespeople hope.
It gives people something thatthey didn't have before,
something you hope that you canconvey that through your songs
and that's the best you can everhope for, absolutely.
So I'm constantly in search ofthat, constantly inspired by
(23:30):
others who make me feel that.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Yeah, and if your music can touch one person, it
changes their attitude, changesthe way they look at things,
gets hope for life.
It's a win, that's right.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Now, how do people find you?
Facebook and everything youknow?
That's the easiest wayM-A-R-K-B-R-Y-A-N.
Music, and you know the newmusic is there, so go to YouTube
.
Like I said, there's alreadyfour videos out that are of the
newer stuff, so yeah.
Yeah, and then obviouslythrough Hootie as well.
You know we're on tour allsummer long, so our website is
(24:15):
very active right now.
All the hootie uh platformsyeah, good on social media, like
we played send way, so there'sa whole piece about that one of
my favorite parks to be in yeah,it's just fun we're having a
blast
Speaker 1 (24:28):
right now yeah, and I think that's great because the
music business unfortunately itis a business, but we got into
music to have fun and that'swhat it's all about.
So it's great that you'reenjoying it and having some fun
with it.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Without a doubt, man, I mean it's great that I got to
make my new record andeverything, but if I wasn't on
tour this summer, I don't knowif I'd feel as fulfilled as I do
right now.
And so it's the full circle ofcreating and then going and
playing it for people and havingthem sing it back to you, and
that whole full circle.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Yeah, that is just so true.
And there is nothing betterthan getting on stage and
everybody's just having a greatnight.
The band is tight, the rhythmsection is tight, everything is
just flowing, no problems.
There's just not a betterfeeling than that.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
You said it, man, and I'll tell you that that feeling
that you're talking about rightthere that's happening with UD
and the Blowfish this summer aswell ever has, and we're almost
together for like 35 years nowor something Wow, we're as good
as we've ever been.
It's crazy.
I don't know if I would havebeen able to say that when we
were in our twenties, like whenyou're 57, you'll be as good as
(25:35):
you're, but, man, it's, it'sreally, really tight and it's
really great that everybody'sstill playing on this level and
enthusiastic about it on thislevel and about about sounding
this good.
So, yeah, I love being in atight band.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
It's great oh yeah, it's a great feeling.
It's nothing better.
I've been in some great onesand I've been in some loose ones
and everything in between.
Well, this is great.
I really appreciate you takingthe time to be on.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
Yeah, man, thanks so much for having me again.
Yeah, it's a great conversation, man.
I mean we're in a good place,getting to play the beat on tour
right now.
I really appreciate theopportunity to talk about it.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Yeah, absolutely Great conversation.
Thanks for joining us today.
We hope you enjoyed the show.
This has been a Tony Mantorproduction.
(26:32):
For more information, contactmedia at plateau musiccom.
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